{"id":6490,"date":"2021-06-25T17:23:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T00:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/?p=6490"},"modified":"2023-05-23T12:04:39","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T19:04:39","slug":"fearless-biochemistry-and-molecular-biology-senior-works-at-the-cutting-edge-of-cell-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/2021\/06\/25\/fearless-biochemistry-and-molecular-biology-senior-works-at-the-cutting-edge-of-cell-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fearless\u2019 biochemistry and molecular biology senior works at the cutting edge of cell evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published in IMPACT<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one who knows biochemistry and molecular biology senior Ilana Gottfried-Lee is surprised to hear that her greatest passion is synthetic biology, a new field of science that works to re-engineer life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining the biochemistry department in 2018, she first discovered biochemistry Professor Ryan Mehl\u2019s research as she was combing through a list of undergraduate research opportunities in the Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and the Arts (URSA) Engage<\/a> scholarship program, which helps pair undergraduates with a faculty mentor in a research area of their interest. \u201cI was kind of infatuated with this idea of genetic code expansion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, she has spent the past two years performing cutting-edge research under the guidance of Mehl and biochemistry and biophysics Research Assistant Professor Rick Cooley in the Unnatural Protein Facility. Her work has been published in the Journal of Molecular Biology <\/a>and she has presented at conferences including the OHSU Chemical Biology and Physiology Conference<\/a>. After graduating this spring, she plans to continue research in the Mehl\/Cooley group for another year before applying to graduate schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still more impressive, as Cooley explains, is her success \u201cin developing an entirely new directed evolution system, and showing she could use it to reprogram how cells make proteins.\u201d This ongoing research has taken Gottfried-Lee into a new area of the already-novel field of chemical biology, and has captivated her since she first began the project in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Ilana is fearless. She refuses to accept failure and will become an important role model for all women in science.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIlana is fearless,\u201d said Cooley. “She will take on any challenge with passionate enthusiasm, and do whatever it takes to see it succeed. She refuses to accept failure and will become an important role model for all women in science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Ilana<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Finding her place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Native to Portland, OR, Gottfried-Lee showed an early aptitude for math and science \u2013 even attending a magnet school that specializes in these areas. By the time she got to high school, she had already completed the entire math series required for graduation and many of the science courses. Though clearly a gifted learner, a lack of challenging high school coursework ultimately led to a growing disinterest in school. \u201cI just kind of plateaued,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than attending college immediately after graduation, she took a two-year hiatus working in the restaurant industry. Acting on recommendations from her coworkers, she decided to apply for OSU\u2019s engineering program. \u201cInitially, it was a lot less of a desire to actually pursue science or engineering as much as it was to get a high-paying job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt has the benefits of a large university with lots of diverse research, student jobs and funding for research, but I\u2019ve also had a pretty easy time finding a close-knit community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really expect to like OSU very much when I started, but it ended up being great,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has the benefits of a large university with lots of diverse research, student jobs and funding for research, but I\u2019ve also had a pretty easy time finding a close-knit community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One term later, Gottfried-Lee still didn\u2019t know what she wanted to study \u2013 but she knew chemical engineering wasn\u2019t it. On the suggestion of her Exploratory Studies advisor, she began meeting with advisors from other departments to see what appealed to her. Kari van Zee, head advisor of the biochemistry department, made a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Kari is the best academic advisor,” she said. “She took me on a tour of our little floor in ALS and explained all these posters to me. We stopped in all the labs and everyone was so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after their meeting, Gottfried-Lee decided to change her major to biochemistry and molecular biology. \u201cI didn\u2019t totally know what I wanted to do\u2026 It just kind of made sense,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Igniting a passion for science<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gottfried-Lee was most drawn to chemical biology from the start of her scientific career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing that really appealed to me that was even in the realm of molecular biology or biochemistry was in my introductory biology class,\u201d she said. \u201cThey had a slide that was essentially talking about making synthetic life and modifying living systems to be used as biosensors \u2013 proteins that can sense things like toxins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mehl\u2019s URSA project followed a similar line of understanding. \u201cIt seemed pretty interesting, so I went to talk to him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe really sold what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRyan has been an amazing mentor to me. I have gained a lot of confidence from knowing him because he treats me like a full scientist and is proud of the progress I’ve made since first meeting him as a naive second year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first research project took place under the guidance of Jenna Beyer, an award-winning scholar and, according to Gottfried-Lee, \u201cthe nicest person in the world.\u201d An undergraduate senior at the time, Beyer was at the tail end of a successful research project that Gottfried-Lee was able to help finalize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt was a good way to get a lot of confidence, and everything was set up for me to be really successful early on.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got to wrap up this super successful research project that got published pretty quickly,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a good way to get a lot of confidence, and everything was set up for me to be really successful early on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After URSA funding ran out, Gottfried-Lee was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE)<\/a> fellowship that provided funding to work full time over the summer with Cooley. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty tight-knit group,\u201d she explained. Although her URSA finding had been through Mehl, and SURE funding with Cooley, she continues working closely with both professors under the umbrella of the Unnatural Protein (UP) Facility.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genetic code expansion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you think about the work we do in the biochemistry and biophysics department, a lot of the time it\u2019s about making really difficult proteins and studying them in isolation,\u201d she says. Traditionally, these are proteins that exist in nature and are analyzed using chemical and\/or physical tools to gain new understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than studying existing living systems, the UP Facility attempts to introduce unnatural or synthetic components that give proteins new functionalities. The process, known as genetic code expansion (GCE) is one of the most recent innovations to emerge in the 21st<\/sup> century and is rapidly gaining traction in the scientific community. It\u2019s not hard to see why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProteins are these incredible macromolecules that are involved in every single life process,\u201d says Gottfried-Lee. In nature, proteins comprise some twenty amino acids that are encoded in the genetic code through a process called translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf we can take advantage of the things that life has done super well, we can use those life processes to reduce inefficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Genetic code expansion allows researchers to expand the alphabet of amino acids in a protein from twenty, to potentially hundreds. This is an involved process. First, the amino acids are synthesized using organic chemistry, and then supplemented into the media that is fed to the cell. Next, scientists in the Mehl and Cooley research groups engineer specific that are able to recognize these amino acids and incorporate them into the protein. This modification process is known as directed evolution \u2013 the development of which received the Nobel Prize in 2018.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really interested in designing better enzymes to break down environmental toxins. Or, for example, a lot of chemical processes are done in really harsh toxic conditions with organic solvents or heavy metal catalysts that are terrible for the environment,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we can take advantage of the things that life has done super well, we can use those life processes to reduce inefficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redefining \u2018natural selection’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of the research in the Mehl\/Cooley labs focuses on modifying a single enzyme \u2013 the tRNA synthetase \u2013 which attaches the unnatural amino acid to a tRNA that is then incorporated into the protein during translation. Gottfried-Lee\u2019s research dives into even newer territory. Rather than focusing on the synthetase, she works to evolve other components of the system to better accommodate the amino acid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEver since life has existed with ribosomes and proteins, we\u2019ve had this process of translation that\u2019s evolved to work perfectly for each amino acid that naturally occurs,\u201d Gottfried-Lee said. \u201cThe system has evolved over hundreds of millions of years to be super specific and efficient for twenty things, and now we\u2019re trying to make it work for hundreds of different things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I have grown used to being blown away at every one of Ilana\u2019s research meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIlana started an independent project in our lab that was particularly challenging; one that I was hesitant to give to someone so early on in their development,\u201d Cooley said. \u201cI expressed the high risk nature of the project to Ilana, but she didn\u2019t care. Instead, she saw it as an opportunity to prove what she could do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of difficulty and perseverance required was greater than even her mentors had anticipated and lacked previous studies to help guide the way. Despite many setbacks, after that first summer her accomplishments exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIlana is the unicorn of research undergrads,\u201d said Mehl. \u201cNot only does she return with beautiful publication-quality data but also with a detailed presentation of all the failed attempts that led her to the successful results. I have grown used to being blown away at every one of Ilana\u2019s research meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

By Mary Hare, College of Science<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published in IMPACT No one who knows biochemistry and molecular biology senior Ilana Gottfried-Lee is surprised to hear that her greatest passion is synthetic biology, a new field of science that works to re-engineer life. Joining the biochemistry department in 2018, she first discovered biochemistry Professor Ryan Mehl\u2019s research as she was combing through a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9319,"featured_media":7438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1205,1306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","category-student"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6490"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8603,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6490\/revisions\/8603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/honorslink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}